Why What We Do in the Shadows Is Perfect for TV

In the snowy wilds of Toronto, a show is being made. It’s about Vampires, and there’s blood, a lot of blood. This isn’t your average story about nocturnal beasties who go bump in the night. In fact, it’s anything but. What We Do In The Shadows is based on the cult film of the same name, and luckily for everyone it comes from the brilliant minds behind that movie: Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.

A lot has changed since that creepy comedy hit screens. Both storytellers are now household names, Clement from his roles in the surreal comic book trip Legion and his turn as a shiny crustacean in Moana. Waititi has been on a directorial journey, casually turning in an $800 million Marvel movie with his superhero debut, Thor: Ragnarok. Their ever-growing fame meant that fans were slightly worried that the pair might not be behind FX’s spin-off of their beloved bloodsuckers, but when we spoke to the pair in a strangely hot office in Toronto it was clear that What We Do In The Shadows is every bit still their weird and hilarious baby.

Continue reading…

Hulu’s Into the Dark: “I’m Just F***ing With You” Clip

Hulu’s Into the Dark is a 12-episode horror anthology series co-produced by Blumhouse Television. The show debuts one new episode per month for an entire year, with each story tied to a specific holiday. Premiering on Monday, April 1, “I’m Just F***ing With You” is the seventh installment in the series, and April Fools is the holiday at the center of the narrative.

According to a synopsis from Hulu, “On the way to a family wedding, a man and his sister endure a night of increasingly frightening practical jokes during a one-night stay at a secluded motel.” For an exclusive look at “I’m Just F***ing With You,” check out the clip below.

“I’m Just F***cking With You” is written by Gregg Zehenter & Scott Barkan, and directed by Adam Mason. The episode features Keir O’Donnell (Ray Donovan), Hayes MacArthur (Angie Tribeca), and Jessica McNamee (Sirens) in the leading roles.

Continue reading…

New Free Pokemon Available Now For Ultra Sun And Moon

Pokemon Sword and Shield may be on the horizon, but The Pokemon Company isn’t done giving away freebies for the series’ latest 3DS installments, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Players with a Pokemon Bank subscription can now claim two more free Pokemon in the seventh-gen games, and these are a little different from the ones you can normally catch.

For a limited time, you’ll be able to receive a free Oranguru and Passimian by signing into Pokemon Bank. What makes these particular Pokemon special is they come with their Hidden Abilities, which normally aren’t obtainable in the games. Passimian’s is Defiant, which raises its Attack any time one of its stats is lowered by the opponent, while Oranguru’s is Symbiosis, which will pass the item it’s holding to an ally in Double or Triple Battles when that Pokemon consumes its own held item.

You can claim Oranguru and Passimian in either of the Ultra games or the original Sun and Moon versions. To download them, you’ll need to insert your game of choice in the 3DS and access the Pokemon Bank app. After you see a notification that the gifts are available, you’ll need to open the game, then pick the Pokemon up from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center. It’s unclear how long this distribution will run, so you’ll want to act fast.

Pokemon Bank is a paid cloud service that allows you to easily store and move Pokemon between all of the series’ sixth- and seventh-generation 3DS Pokemon games. Subscriptions cost $5 / £4.49 per year. As an added bonus, The Pokemon Company regularly distributes free Pokemon to subscribers; last year, for instance, it gave away all three Alola starters with their Hidden Abilities. You can also store Pokemon from the 3DS Virtual Console versions of Red/Blue/Yellow and Gold/Silver/Crystal on Pokemon Bank.

Oranguru and Passimian aren’t the only freebies still available for 3DS players. You also have until September 2 to claim an assortment of rare Berries via Mystery Gift. You can see all of the freebies available for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in our roundup.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are the next “core” installments in the Pokemon series, and they’re slated to launch for Nintendo Switch in late 2019. The Pokemon Company hasn’t revealed many details about the games yet, but we got our first look at their new setting and starter Pokemon. You can read everything we know about Pokemon Sword and Shield so far here.

Daily Deals: Big Dell Gaming Sale, Nintendo Switch With Free $35 eShop Credit

Welcome to IGN’s Daily Deals, your source for the best deals on the stuff you actually want to buy. If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

We bring you the best deals we’ve found today on video games, hardware, electronics, and a bunch of random stuff too.Check them out here or like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get the latest deals.

nintendoswitcheshopcreditBuy Nintendo Switch, Get $35 Free Nintendo eShop Credit

Continue reading…

Amy Hennig Explains Problem With Players Not Finishing Stories

Amy Hennig, best known for her work as creative director on the Uncharted series, may be one of the most prolific video game storytellers alive, but even she can’t make a huge portion of gamers finish her stories. Hennig sat down with editor Ryan McCaffrey on this month’s episode of IGN Unfiltered to discuss the issue plaguing narrative-focused games.

“The idea that our medium just makes peace with the fact that most people will never see the whole arc of the story we’re telling, that’s bizarre to me. The age when we could make games in the non-indie space that are six to eight hours long, don’t have any second modes, don’t have a live service, multiplayer, they’re just about this finite interactive narrative experience that sticks the landing and is memorable, that’s a harder and harder sell.”

Continue reading…

Check Out Early Gameplay from Legacy of Kain Developer’s New Game

Join Jim from Apocalypse Studios as he takes you on a guided tour of some work-in-progress gameplay from Deadhaus Sonata, the upcoming free-to-play, six-player-cooperative action-RPG from the team led by Legacy of Kain and Eternal Darkness developer Denis Dyack.

As you can see in the video above, you play an undead character, feeding off the living, and Apocalpyse says they “want you to be a killing machine.” You’ll also see Deadhaus’s unique approach to classic vampiric actions such as sucking blood and transforming into a bat.

“We are combining elements of many of my past games into Deadhaus Sonata,” Dyack told us when the game was announced. “Deadhaus Sonata is a cooperative multiplayer, free-to-play RPG where you are an unstoppable force of the dead. There are Lovecraftian overtones from Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, the gothic role-playing elements of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, where you are undead, and finally, some the action RPG elements of Too Human.”

Continue reading…

Yoshi’s Crafted World Developers Speak on Unreal Engine, amiibo, and More!

Nintendo Executive Officer of the Entertainment Planning and Development Division Takashi Tezuka has been with the company since 1984. He has served as Director and Producer on 2D games in the Super Mario series, 2D games in The Legend of Zelda series, and he’s produced the Yoshi series, Animal Crossing series, and Flipnote Studio for Nintendo DSi. Etsunobu Ebisu, meanwhile, is the Executive Vice President of Good-Feel Co., Ltd, the developer behind Yoshi’s Crafted World. Both answered a handful of IGN’s questions about the brand-new Yoshi-starring platformer, which releases tomorrow.

Our interview is presented below, but first, check out our review of Yoshi’s Crafted World, which, as you can see, we quite enjoyed!

Continue reading…

Creature In The Well: The First 10 Minutes Of Pinball Action

Creature in the Well was revealed during the Nindies Spring Showcase, showing off its combination of hack-and-slash gameplay and pinball. We’ve gotten hands on with the game at PAX East 2019, and it leans much more into hack-and-slash gameplay than proper pinball. You simply attack balls to send them flying into bumpers–some of which will fire their own lasers in your direction–but there’s no risk of losing a ball or pressure to rack up a high score.

Instead, the “pinball table” in each room becomes something of a bullet hell. Your goal is to rack up enough points to open the exit door, but of course doing so is easier said than done when you’re managing multiple pinballs and dodging laser attacks.

You can see the first 10 minutes of the game above. Our gameplay shows off some of the opening rooms, a fast-paced boss fight, and even a secret chamber. Creature in the Well comes to PC and Nintendo Switch this summer.

Dreams PS4 Early Access Release Date Revealed

Media Molecule has announced that early access to Dreams, its upcoming PS4 exclusive, will be available from April 16. Like the studio’s Little Big Planet series, Dreams enables players to create unique gameplay experiences as well as play what Media Molecule and other players have created. The early access part of Dreams will be limited to the creative tools, the studio said on the PlayStation Blog.

“The core of Dreams–the creation bit–is ready,” explained studio director Siobhan Reddy. “There is so much we want to do with and add to Dreams–but to start, we want players to be able to see their creations on their own TV screen and be able to have all the tools they need to make games or stories or art or music accessible from their couch.

No Caption Provided

“[Early access] won’t feature everything that the full release will have (our story mode being a big piece of that) but you’ll get our full tool set for creating, our interactive tutorials and arcade games, templates and additional content created by Media Molecule and access to what you, the CoMmunity, made during our Dreams Creator Beta. You’ll also be getting the first hands-on with new features and content as we add them.”

Early access is an opportunity for players to offer feedback to the developer, and Reddy said Media Molecule plans to make Dreams “an amazing space for creators and players alike for years to come.” Anything created in the early access will carry over to the full game.

The early access version of Dreams will cost $30/£25/CAD$40. It will be available in the US, Canada, and all European territories. Those that purchase the early access version of Dreams will get the full version when it is released. Media Molecule and publisher Sony have not yet provided a release date for the full version, however.

Media Molecule has also said that early access is limited, in terms of the amount of people that can purchase it. Although it added that “it’s a big limit,” the studio suggested players purchase as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Dreams had a beta in January and players were immediately coming up with interesting ways to use the game. One person, for example, created a battle royale-style game inside Dreams. Another remade Konami’s P.T. within the game.

Fortnite Challenge List: Bouncy Ball, Mushroom Shields, And More (Season 8, Week 5)

Fortnite Season 8 seems to be whizzing by, as we’re already in Week 5. For those with hopes of unlocking everything the Battle Pass has to offer, the clock is ticking. Luckily for you, there’s a way to speed the whole process up: doing challenges. Every week developer Epic Games updates Fortnite with a fresh set of tasks for you to complete. Doing so unlocks Battle Stars which levels up your Battle Pass and makes cosmetics available.

As always, there are two categories of challenges. The first is available to everyone playing the game, while the second is exclusive to those that have spent V-Bucks on a battle pass. Below you’ll find a list of everything that you need to do in both categories.

First up is the free challenges. As part of this players will need to deal damage with scoped weapons, search chests in Paradise Palms or Shifty Shafts, and complete a lap of the race track in Happy Hamlet. If you’ve got the premium Battle Pass, you’ll need to use the Bouncy Ball toy and get 15 bounces with it.

You’ll also have to complete a three-stage challenge that begins with getting shields from Mushrooms, and once that’s done further stages will be revealed. You’ll also need to use a Volcano Vent, a zipline, and a vehicle all in the same match, and head to pirate camps to take out three enemies. Take a look at the full list of challenges below.

No Caption Provided

Fortnite Season 8, Week 5 Challenges

Free

  • Deal damage with Scoped Weapons to opponents (200) — 5 Battle Stars
  • Search chests at Paradise Palms or Shifty Shafts (7) — 5 Battle Stars
  • Complete a lap of the Race Track in Happy Hamlet (1) — 10 Battle Stars

Battle Pass

  • Get 15 bounces in a single throw with the Bouncy Ball toy (1) — 5 Battle Stars
  • Stage 1 of 3: Gain shields from Mushrooms (50) — 5 Battle Star
  • Use a Volcano Vent, a zipline, and a vehicle in the same match (3) — 10 Battle Stars
  • Eliminate opponents at Pirate Camps — 3 Battle Stars

Deal Damage With Scoped Weapons

This one is fairly obvious: grab yourself a weapon and make sure it has a scope. Once you’ve got one of those you’ll need to land 200 points of damage on opponents, and in return you’ll be rewarded with five Battle Stars. Fortnite has scoped sniper rifles, assault rifles, and a scoped revolver. For our money, we recommend looking for an assault rifle, as it’s the most common and also much easier to land shots with.

Search Chests At Paradise Pals or Shifty Shafts

Again, another fairly obvious one. Drop into one of those two locations and, to speed things up, look for an elevated position. From there you should be able to spot nearby treasure chests that you can search. However, be careful as both these areas will likely be crawling with other players also looking to complete the challenge. If you’re able to get there with a scoped rifle and are feeling confident, you could engage enemies and kill two birds with one stone.

Complete A Lap Of The Race Track In Happy Hamlet

This is a nice, easy breezy challenge that lets you have a bit of fun. Happy Hamlet is located at grid reference D9 on the Fortnite map. Drop there, hop into a vehicle, and do a quick lap. Done!

Get 15 Bounces With Bouncy Ball Toy

If you head to your emote locker you’ll be able to select the bouncy ball and throw it for a good time. The easiest way to complete this challenge is to grab the resources necessary to build a high ramp, build up, and once you’re relatively high in the sky, just throw down the bouncy ball and let physics take care of all the hard work for you. Alternatively, just build a 1×1 structure around yourself and throw the ball–even easier.

Gain Shields From Mushrooms

Mushrooms are consumable items in Fortnite that you’re most likely to encounter in the dense forest areas of the map. We recommend heading to Wailing Woods, Dusty Divot, and Shifty Shafts to find them. However, given that they’re relatively prevalent throughout the map, it’s probably easier to just get on with the other challenges and keep your eyes peeled for them as you’re out on your adventures.

Epic Games also recently released update 8.20 for Fortnite. It introduces a new limited-time mode that tasks players with avoiding lava that is constantly rising. There’s also a new trap weapon and a number of other tweaks to the way the game plays. Check out the full Fortnite 8.20 patch notes to see everything included in it.